Apple buys Platoon to further boost its music business

Platoon is focussed on the discovery and development of emerging musical artists

Apple has acquired the startup in a bid to further build its music business

The terms of the deal have not been disclosed so far

CALIFORNIA, U.S. - In a bid to further boost its music business, Apple has confirmed its purchase of a small tech startup called Platoon.

The London-based artist development startup Platoon, was founded in 2016, by former Skype executive Saul Klein, a former music talent manager Denzyl Feigelson and Ben Grabiner from VC firm Local Globe.

The platform, which is focussed on finding and developing musical artists, consists of a dozen employees and has worked with acts like Billie Eilish, Jorja Smith, Stefflon Don, Mr. Eazi and YEBBA.

The platform not only discovers independent artists that it believes will make it big, but gets them on its service, funds them, and helps them get discovered by the public and bigger labels.

While Platoon works with creators to produce and distribute their work, it also uses analytics to target audiences and build marketing strategies.

Its services are considered useful in the industry since the large pool of unsigned artists globally often find it expensive to buy studio time and gain access to music editing software.

Its acquisition by Apple, which was first reported by Music Business Worldwide, is reportedly aimed at helping Apple find and develop exclusive artists for Apple Music.

Further, the acquisition could also serve to boost Apple's Up Next platform that works towards allocating resources to up-and-coming artists.

The deal, financial details of which have not been disclosed so far, comes at a time when Apple is trying to not only offset flattening iPhone sales but is also trying to beat its main competitor Spotify in terms of growth.

In recent years, Apple has been trying to build up its music business, with small acquisitions.

In May 2014, Apple made its largest acquisition-to-date in the music space, with the acquisition of Beats Electronics for $3 billion.

The iPhone maker has also invested in music identification app Shazam and the music analytics company Asaii.